Thread: Курочка Ряба

Привет, форумы. Below is a Russian text and my translation of it further down, and I was wondering if anyone could check the accuracy of my translation and correct any errors. Thanks.

Курочка Ряба
Жили-были дед да баба.
Была у них курочка ряба.
Снесла курочка яичко, не простое - золотое.
Дед бил, бил - не разбил.
Баба била, била - не разбила.
Мышка бежала, хвостиком задела, яичко упало и разбилось.
Дед плачет, баба плачет, а курочка кудахчет:
- Не плачь, дед, не плачь, баба: снесу вам яичко не золотое - простое!

Speckled Hen
Once upon a time there was a grandpa and grandma.
In the past they had a speckled hen.
The hen carried an egg, it wasn’t ordinary – it was gold.
Grandpa hits, hits – it doesn’t break.
Grandma hits, hits – it doesn’t break.
A mouse runs past, its tail touches it, the egg falls down and breaks.
Grandpa cries, grandma cries, and the hen clucks:
- Don’t cry, grandpa, don’t cry, grandma: will bear you an egg not gold – ordinary!

I am not sure you need 'in the past' here.

Была у них курочка ряба. - suggests they just had it, at the time of narration.
Or maybe it sounds better in English with 'in the past'.. not sure.

All the rest looks lovely)) i can picture it..)

Thank you for the feedback.

The hen laid an egg, it wasn’t ordinary – it was gold. (нести яйца = lay eggs)

A mouse runs past, its tail touches it, the egg falls down and breaks.

Another version is "Бежала мимо мышка, хвостиком махнула (waved, swung, swept), яичко упало и разбилось".

яичко is a diminutive for яйцо so it's not like just an egg, it's more like a "little egg".

will bear you an egg

not sure bear is the right verb. снесу here is the same as нести (lay an egg).
It's something like "I'll produce a new egg for you, not gold, but an ordinary one"

Thanks, this is really helpful information. I'll change the translation to make it more accurate.

Originally Posted by Medved

яичко is a diminutive for яйцо so it's not like just an egg, it's more like a "little egg".

А little в английском не обязательно обозначает размер? Мне кажется, диминутив здесь не для указания на размер употреблён.

This is an improved translation based on everyone's feedback:
Курочка Ряба
Жили-были дед да баба.
Была у них курочка ряба.
Снесла курочка яичко, не простое - золотое.
Дед бил, бил - не разбил.
Баба била, била - не разбила.
Мышка бежала (мимо), хвостиком задела / махнула, яичко упало и разбилось.
Дед плачет, баба плачет, а курочка кудахчет:
- Не плачь, дед, не плачь, баба: снесу вам яичко не золотое - простое!

Speckled Hen
Once upon a time there was a grandpa and grandma.
They had a speckled hen.
The hen laid a little / an egg, it wasn’t ordinary – it was gold.
Grandpa hits, hits – it doesn’t break.
Grandma hits, hits – it doesn’t break.
A mouse runs past / by, its tail touches it / swung, (and) the egg falls down and breaks.
Grandpa cries, grandma cries, and the hen clucks:
- Don’t cry, grandpa, don’t cry, grandma: I’ll produce you an (a new) egg, not gold – (but) ordinary!

А little в английском не обязательно обозначает размер? Мне кажется, диминутив здесь не для указания на размер употреблён.

Little означает эмоцию, похожую на те, которые мы выражаем суффиксами чк, шк.... яичко, солнышко, местечко, малышка...
Small означает тупо размер, без эмоционального налета.

Speckled Hen
Once upon a time there was a grandpa and grandma.
They had a speckled hen.
One day the hen laid a little egg; not just an ordinary egg – it was a gold egg.
Grandpa hits, hits – it doesn’t break.
Grandma hits, hits – it doesn’t break.
A mouse runs past, its tail touches it and the egg falls down and breaks.
Grandpa cries, grandma cries, and the hen clucks:
- Don’t cry, grandpa, don’t cry, grandma: I’ll produce you another egg, not gold – (but) ordinary!

Something like that. Some of the corrections have been made just for the sake of readability because I suspect those lines didn't look any good whatsoever. But all in all, I'll leave readability and "smoothness" up to you because you're a native speaker of English (if I'm not missing anything). "Produce" is also a principal translation, you can replace it and other words with anything you feel right to make the whole thing sound natural, sweet snd smooth like a little fairytale, not like a translation of a foreign little fairytale.

I think that "дед да баба" does not necessarily mean "a grandpa and grandma". I don't think there were any grandchildren mentioned in the tale.

The word "дед" means "an old man" and "баба" means simply "a spouse", or more generally "a woman". Who knows, maybe the old man had a younger spouse?

So, I suggest translating "Жили-были дед да баба" at least as "Once upon a time there was an old couple".

Originally Posted by Crocodile

The word "дед" means "an old man" and "баба" means simply "a spouse", or more generally "a woman". Who knows, maybe the old man had a younger spouse?

LOL. Not sure how young the standard "baba" is supposed to be, but normally a peasant's spouse was not as light as a feather. Hence, the proverb goes “Баба с возу — кобыле легче.” (it's easier for the horse when the “lady” is off the cart.))

Баба - деревенская (обычно замужняя) женщина, крестьянка, весящая энное количество десятков килограммов. Воз - повозка (телега, сани и т. п. ) с кладью. Конечно же, кобыле, впряжённой в телегу становилось легче везти поклажу, когда баба, находившаяся в телеге, по каким-то причинам с этой телеги слезала.

Ответы@Mail.Ru: объясните пословицу. объясните пословицу баба с возу-кобыле легче

Originally Posted by diogen_

LOL. Not sure how young the standard "baba" is supposed to be, but normally a peasant's spouse was not as light as a feather.

The only reason I mentioned that "баба" could also be younger than her husband was to highlight that "баба" is probably just "a spouse" and not "a grandma" as the original translation suggests. Maybe, she didn't have children in the first place, let alone the grandchildren. Also, the fact that nobody except for the mouse was there to help the old couple to break the egg kind of implies they lived alone.

Btw, I'm kind of surprised what does the weight of "баба" have to do with the activity of breaking the eggshell?

The tale IMHO is about how the extraordinary does not belong in the ordinary. In an ordinary place two ordinary people who had an ordinary hen all of a sudden got an extraordinary thing - a golden egg. Being a perfectly ordinary, all they could use the golden egg for was to break the shell and fry the internals - they could find no other use to it. But their attempts to fit the extraordinary into the ordinary failed. So, eventually the egg fell down and became spoiled to be eaten. (But the most outstanding part - the golden eggshell - was still usable!) The ordinary people began to cry for they cannot get out of their cognitive box to realize the potential and the proper use of the extraordinary that they encounter. So, could they reflect on what happened and educate themselves and elevate their consciousness? No, that would be impossible for the ordinary, don't bother, stay where you are, forget the golden egg, we'll get you another perfectly ordinary egg you could use. Only then you'll be happy. No moving forward. End of story.

Btw, I'm kind of surprised what does the weight of "баба" have to do with the activity of breaking the eggshell?

Beside breaking eggshells a typical "баба" was supposed to stop a horse on the run, enter the house on fire,… make buns, after all. You can make sure yourself how true that might have been. Just take a look at the “volumes” of the peasant’s spouse on the video below ... well it’s simply the result of the natural selection, survival of the fittest, the byproduct of the evolution of species, etc…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DfDcqYCwis

Alright, so how powerful then the mouse was?

Originally Posted by Crocodile

Alright, so how powerful then the mouse was?

Very powerfull I surmise, something like this (2:50)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNSgFlCf8Lc

You’d rather explain to me why “дед & баба, ltd” had been trying to hit the golden egg so desperately at first and lamented afterwards, when it was broken apart almost naturally. Their behavioral economics paradigm is pretty insane, isn’t it?

Originally Posted by diogen_

You’d rather explain me why “дед & баба, ltd” had been trying to hit the golden egg so desperately at first and lamented afterwards, when it was broken apart almost naturally. Their behavioral economics paradigm is pretty insane, isn’t it?

Exactly!! That is the key to realize the tale has at least two layers.

First is the one we've all learnt when we were kids and that is pretty much similar to "not everything is gold which is sparkling" - you'd better have something that's useful than something that only looks good.

But, exactly like you said, that leaves the question open: so, the mouse had done all the hard work for them, why are they now unhappy? I think that is because they tried to misuse the golden egg - the precious part is the golden eggshell, not the yolk. You could do something like my precious a golden ring or golden coins from the gold that the eggshell contains. But the simple-minded couple armed with the consciousness not very much higher than that of a simple speckled hen, decided that the important part is the yolk, and the golden eggshell is just something nice to look at, nothing more. So, those hungry individuals lamented over the spoiled yolk not ready to realize that the golden eggshell is there for them (to make golden stuff) for their chicken-level brain does not allow them to think out-of-the-eggshell, so to speak. Good thing they were consoled by the creature (whose cognitive processes is just their match) which teaches them go on not-to-thinking and not-to-worrying.

Ergo: is not worth it to cast pearls before swine.

Good thing they were consoled by the creature (whose cognitive processes is just their match) which teaches them go on not-to-thinking and not-to-worrying.

Here I disagree with you. Speckled Hen is the advanced zen master who not only vigorously practices internal alchemy of transforming calcium into gold but also the one who is guided throughout her life with the divine principle, "От каждого по способностям, каждому по заслугам” (From each according to his abilities, to each according to his merits). It's the ultimate form of communism for enlightened adepts. She is the supreme being.

Yeah, right..

Открываем "наше всё":

[...] ведь и курица, снося яйцо, тем самым показывает, что стоит на позициях эмпиризма, рационализма, оптимизма, каузализма и активизма. Она сносит яйцо, то есть действует, значит, она активистка. Высиживает это яйцо в убеждении, что его можно высидеть: это уже незаурядный оптимизм. Она рассчитывает на появление цыпленка, из которого вырастет новая курица, значит, она еще и прогнозистка, а также каузалистка, поскольку признает причинно-следственную связь между теплом своего брюха и развитием птенца.

Курица только не может всего этого прокудахтать [...]